The internet based social media expects to be completely shut down by August, 2019. The delay is meant to allow present users to have time to download, copy, or review any of their details that are on the service.
You would think that anything with Google's name on it would be immensely successful. But it wasn't.
As the 4th attempt at cracking the social media bubble, Google Plus was launched in June 2011 to be a competition to Facebook. However, it fell short.
Google's new platform never really 'caught on' with Facebook users, many of whom didn't want to desert their Facebook friends. Very few were convinced to migrate over to Google Plus. Their beloved Facebook was ingrained too deep into each user's psyche and Google Plus couldn't touch it.
With all the Facebook helps, popups and tutorials in place, a novice Facebook user can learn to navigate Facebook in a few short hours, start to build a friends list, find a few games to play and even join some groups.
Even though Google Plus modeled itself after Facebook's template in almost every way, it was a little harder to navigate. The built-in helps, popups and tutorials didn't kick in right away. A user became hopelessly lost, partly because Google Plus used different language than Facebook - like Circles, Huddle, Hangouts, and Sparks.
G+1 icons were added to every blog and website so that users could share any information they read to Google.
Google Plus had the same ability to post photos and status updates as Facebook did, except Google Plus posted to a news stream or boards for interest-based communities. Trying to navigate those communities could occupy a user for hours, which took them away from the precious hours of Facebook socialization that users were online for in the first place.
Google's "Circles" grouped a user's relationships (same as Facebook's friends). "Hangouts" had the capability for users to text and video chat with one or more users in an instant message. There was location tagging, just like on Facebook. All in all, Google Plus users were able to instantly chat with friends, play games, and build friends lists - just like they did on Facebook.
But it just wasn't Facebook -- where all their friends were, where everyone knew their name. Or at least the name they used on Facebook.
Facebook set the bar pretty high for all competition and it is safe to say that any social media site that imitates them will be hard put to surpass Facebook's millions of users.
Back in 2011, some Facebook executives saw the new Google Plus as a serious threat to Facebook, so much so that Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg ordered a company-wide "lockdown" until Facebook could update themselves to fall in line with Google Plus.
Can you imagine that? Facebook wanted to fall in line with Google Plus. This is probably because Google Plus's parent company - Google - is world renown as an authority and Facebook felt they would be out-shined by Google Plus.
As observers, we admins feel that Facebook still doesn't understand that they are the top dog in social media and there is no need to bring themselves in line with any other social media platforms.
Sure, Facebook has its problems, but even with the frequent stories of this one being hacked and that one being hacked, its users still hang in there with Facebook. When Facebook owned up to several breach incidents, some users said they felt that Facebook's honesty made them trust Facebook even more than they did before.
Google Plus was honest about their breach. Facebook was honest about their breach.
But neither was completely honest because neither one of them reported it to users in a timely manner. Both waited months.
We only learned about what Google Plus is calling a "software glitch" when they announced they were closing down.
The announcement said: In the spring of 2018, outside APP developers 'could have' accessed the private Google Plus user profile names, email addresses, age, gender and occupations.
The fact that they said "could have" instead of definitive language means it probably happened. If not for that closing announcement, users may never have heard about it. Google Plus would just have shut down - probably with an unblemished hack-free record.
The media blast that Facebook issued to tell its users that there was a breach contained some very bad advice in the last paragraph. Users were told not to worry and that there was no need to change their password.
Any social media who says there's no need to change your password has literally cut your veins open for you bleed to death.
Your Password is your first line of defense on the internet.
The stronger it is, the safer you are.
But if you didn't change it after the Facebook breach, then you are more trusting than you should be.
After Google Plus announced their data glitch, for some reason they didn't enjoy the solidarity and trust level that Facebook does.
Google Plus clearly didn't feel the love.
We feel compelled to mention this as a precaution.
If you have anything on your Google Plus account that you want a copy of, now is the time to get it. Don't wait until August 2019. Google has had three other failed ventures into creating a social media platform and all three shut down before the announced date. So get your stuff now.
If you haven't changed your Facebook password since the Facebook incident in September, do it now. Choose something that is between 12 and 16 characters, not the name of a real person, place or thing and include some symbols from the top row of your keyboard. Then write it down so you don't forget it.
Don't trust it to Facebook or Google's password vault.
If you have everything you want off your Google Plus account, you can delete it now. This will help you so you don't keep posting new stuff to it and so you don't have to remember to go back in August 2019 to look anything else over. Here's how:
To Delete Your Google Plus Account
1 - Log in to your Google+ account.
2 - Click the drop-down menu in the top left corner of the page, and select Settings.
3 - Scroll down to Disable Google+ to where it says "delete your entire Google profile here."
4 - Scroll to the bottom of the page and check the box next to Required.
5 - Click Remove selected services.
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